Riddle Me This
by StoryLover89
Summary: There's a new student at Hogwarts, one no one has ever seen before. He doesn't know anything, but who will be there to guide him before he's caught?
1. First Night

Disclaimer: I don't own any Harry Potter things, they are all JK Rowling creations. The plot is mine though. 

This is my first fic, so please, judge freely. Reviews would be appreciated.

Riddle Me This The First Night 

As he walked onto the train many stares were cast upon him. He was different, like many of the unknown first years, but there was a difference between them and him, he was older. All of the first years were eleven or twelve; he looked to be about seventeen. As he ambled along the train corridor searching for an empty compartment he could hear many hushed whispers.

"Who's that?"

"I dunno..."

"What's his name do you reckon?"

Entering an empty compartment, he threw his bag onto the opposite chair and flopped down onto the vacant seat. To Michael Riddle, any solitude he got was rare and well appreciated. He hadn't had a good night sleep in days, only short catnaps. Reaching across to the other seat he opened his bag and removed a large black cloak from inside, sitting back down in the empty seat, he spread the cloak over himself and set off to sleep. Michael had been told beforehand that the train ride was going to be a long one.

But he couldn't sleep at all; people kept looking in on him, giving him puzzled looks and speaking in hushed voices as they walked past. It was really quite annoying and it was starting to agitate him. So giving up on his original plan of slumber he decided to read a book instead. Folding his cloak and setting it at the foot of the seat, he reached across the compartment again and brought out a book from his bag, _Standard Book of Spells Grade 6. _

After about 5 minutes of reading, Mike started to daze off. Sleep deprivation was finally weighing in on him. Hiking through the mountains non-stop for 72 hours straight hiding from _him_...

The pages were fading, the letters were swirling, joining and splitting, rejoining and focusing, and they were forming pictures. It was a hillside, no a house, no now it's a church, now it's an iceberg...drifting into oblivion.

"Excuse me?" said a voice from far away, "Are you okay?"

Snap. He was awake, turning to look he saw that a girl was standing in the doorway looking expectant.

"Sorry...um...did you say something?" He said before a yawning fit overcame him.

Her face softened and she said, "I was just wondering if I could sit in here, everywhere else is full?"

"Sure." Reaching over onto the other seat, he grabbed his bag and tossed it onto the floor next to his own chair.

As she sat down he studied her; she _was_ quite pretty. She had wavy, or semi-curly; which he didn't know, brown hair, and deep brown eyes. He figured she already had changed into her uniform, when he spotted a school logo on her cloak. He eyed her bag and saw that it was rather worn down, the only thing about her that seemed so. There were several bulging creases along the outsides; they looked as if many books had been stuffed into it. There was a small scar right along the upper length of her right jaw, it looked as if she had been hit by something jagged. He also saw through her hair that her ears were pierced but she wasn't wearing earrings. She wasn't fat but she wasn't a toothpick either, she was _perfectly_ in the middle. While he was looking at her he didn't even notice that she was looking back at him.

Averting his eyes he picked up his book and turned into a sitting position, laying his feet flat against the floor. Reaching down he opened his bag and stuffed the book inside. Tilting his head up to look he saw that she had pulled out a book of her own. Now he was wondering..._what was her name?_

"Excuse me? I don't mean to interrupt but I was wondering what your name was?" He said drawing her attention. He broke into a smile, his first in a very, very long time.

"Hermione...Hermione Granger." She said smiling back; it was a warm smile, "what's your name?"

"Michael Riddle." He said nodding towards the book she was reading, "what are you reading?"

"_Advanced Translation of Ancient Runes._ What were you reading?"

"_Standard Book of Spells Grade 6_." He replied. 

"So you're in sixth year?"

"Yeah. How about you?" Michael said obviously intrigued.

"Same." She said turning to her book.

Michael wanted to know more, he hadn't really been told all that much, "So, I'm guessing you take Ancient Runes?" He inquired.

"Yeah, how about you, are you taking Ancient Runes?" She asked turning her attention to him.

"No, I don't need to, I've already finished that course." Hermione was surprised at what he said.

"Really? When did you finish?"

"Almost a year ago, I have had some time to work on it." He said smiling, "You mind if I take a look?" He asked reaching for the book, she handed it to him.

Scanning the pages he saw an error, he placed his finger on it. Getting up he walked across the compartment and sat next to her.

"You see right here," He pointed to the spot. "That isn't right. Verracorset really translates to mines and not pines. So if you read the whole thing, it says 'Beware the challenge in the forest flaked with mines.' They wouldn't tell you that it's flaked with pines if they already said it's a forest."

"Yeah, but it makes sense either way, in theory anyways."

"Yes, that's true but the people that wrote these books weren't looking for deeper meanings, they just wanted to publish, so they used whatever made sense, even if it didn't have depth."

There conversation went on for most of the train ride, spreading from topics like travel, to business, to just anything. But the people looking in on them never ceased, they kept coming up to the window.

"Do you like people looking in on you?" Hermione asked taking out her wand.

"No, not really. Why do you ask?"

"Negroteria!" Hermione said pointing her wand at the window just as someone came up. The window blackened so that no one could see through it. "Oh, no reason."

Michael just smiled; he had a clever girl on his hands.

Nearing the end of the ride someone came crashing into the compartment, they looked fuming mad and his face was as red as his hair. Michael jumped upon his entrance, and guessing, seeing the book sprawled out on the floor, he thought Hermione had too. Then the boy started screaming, ranting rather.

"Hermione where have you been! Harry and me were worried, we thought you'd gone off and got hexed and stuffed in a closet or something! We've been looking for you everywhere! Jeez, I mean you didn't even say anything to us!" He yelled across the compartment.

"Well Ron, why didn't you just look in here?" She replied.

"Well because the windows were black, and me and Harry just figured people were making out in here." Ron said growing red in the face, this time from embarrassment.

"Actually no. I said to look in here, but you said no." A voice said from behind him.

Someone else had walked inside behind Ron; he had glasses and jet-black hair, judging from his response he figured that it was the aforementioned Harry.

"Were you guys really looking for me, Harry?" Hermione asked, concern flashing across her face.

"Yeah, Ginny wanted to talk to you. So did Ron and me, we have so much to catch up on." Harry replied, looking at her.

"Yeah, c'mon Hermione, before Ginny turns into my mom and grows a worry wart the size of Jupiter." Ron said laughing, imagining Ginny like Mrs. Weasley was just funny.

"I will not do any such thing Ronald. Hermione, I need to talk to you." Ginny said glaring at her brother.

Michael looked her over; she was really pretty. She had flaming red hair that reached down to her lower back in delicate curls and she was slim; perfect curve too. She had freckles splattered across her cheeks, but they suited her, as if she was made for them. And she had gorgeous eyes, they could read you well, like they had been read before and she stole the person's power.

"You're already turning into her Ginerva." Ron snapped back at his sister.

But Michael interrupted their little feud, speaking very lightly; he was never really a loud person, "Go on Hermione."

"Really?" She turned to face him, happy that he had broken up Ron and Ginny, "Are you sure? I mean I could stay if you want." She wasn't exactly sure if he'd be okay, he didn't really know what to do afterwards.

"Yeah. I'll be fine." He turned to look at Ginny, "I'm Mike by the way." He extended out his hand for her to shake.

Ginny blushed furiously before shaking his hand, "I'm Ginny."

"Yeah, it's fine Hermione. I have to change anyway, unless you want to stay and watch." He replied smiling at her, he didn't mean to be a smart ass; he just wanted her to go, before her friends started to hate him.

"I'll see you later then." She said, getting up and grabbing her things.

"Course you will, we go to the same school." He replied smiling watching her go.

She turned and smiled at him, giving him a short wave before she left.

Michael reached down into his bag, after shutting the compartment door, and took out his school robes and some black slacks. He was already wearing a black button up dress shirt that covered a black tank top, and some dark worn jeans, leading down to his dark gray and white skater shoes. He also had on a gray snow hat. Reaching up he took off his hat and removed his black dress shirt. Picking up his school, white dress shirt he put it on, then took off his jeans and exchanged them for black slacks. He preferred his jeans better; they felt like they were there, slacks felt like nothing. He didn't bother to put on the sweater or the black robes he just tossed them to where Hermione had been sitting.

Sitting back down he reached into his bag and took out his portable CD player and headphones, putting the headphones on pushed play. He sat through the rest of the ride in a semi-conscious state, like right before you fall asleep but haven't yet. Occasionally he would go through the words of the songs in his head, he was listening to Blink 182, one of his favorite bands.

After about twenty minutes he could feel the train slow and come to a halt, looking outside he saw that they had reached a train station. He also noticed that it was raining...hard. It was coming down in large drops very fast, and lightening was flashing off in the distance. He could hear the occasional rumble of thunder, but he definitely couldn't see the sky; deep purple and black clouds blocked it out.

Getting up he threw on his cloak and shoved his sweater into his bag. Mike, then put his hat back on and pulled the cloak tight around him while throwing his bag over his shoulder. Upon stepping out of the train he was immediately pelted with thick sheets of water. Glancing around he saw that the older kids were heading towards horse-less carriages, while the youngest looking of them all were headed towards a monster of a man. He was at least ten feet tall and twice as wide, but unlike his appearance his beady black eyes had a warm look, he wasn't harmful. He saw that the large man was ushering his following students to a row of boats floating upon a lake. They must've been sailing to the school.

Walking he found an empty carriage, and pulled himself inside, relaxing against its cushy seats; the ones on the train were stiff and uncomfortable. He had just rested his head against the back of the seat when the door was swung open and a voice spoke to him.

"Mind if we sit here? Everywhere else is full." The voice said.

Seeing as he was alone Mike said yes. Climbing inside was a lanky boy with white-blonde hair and blue-gray eyes, he was wearing all black, but his cloak was different from Hermione's. In the blonde haired boy's cloak was a symbol with a snake in the middle, Hermione's had had a lion. The blonde haired boy had sat next to him, while two other people joined them, sitting on the seat across from them. If you could call them people, they were massive, they looked like the ten foot tall man, but in their eyes was dumbfound hatred, not compassion. They were also very ugly and unkempt.

"Hello. I'm Draco Malfoy." The blonde said extending his hand for Mike to take.

Mike shook his hand and said, "Hello. I'm Michael Riddle. Who are you?" He gestured towards the other two.

"Oh that's Crabbe," Draco nodded towards the one on the left, "and that's Goyle." He finished nodding towards the one on the right. The boys just grunted and nodded their heads. "So, where're you from? I don't think I've ever seen you before."

"Oh you haven't. I'm new." Just then the carriages took off. "I just came from Ireland, recently."

Draco then remembered something his father had told him before he left for the train station.

_"Now Draco. Listen to me very carefully, there will be a new boy at your school. I wish for you to be nice and make friends with him. It is very...essential that you do so. Do you understand?" Lucius had said, staring the boy down._

_"Yes father. Make friends with the new boy." Draco nodded in understanding to his father._

_"But don't get to close. It could effect your future judgment if you do so." Lucius sneered before leaving Draco standing there alone.._

"Oh. Do you know what house you'll be in?" Draco asked, he was rather curious to find out.

"House?" Mike looked at him confused, he had no idea what he was talking about.

"Yes house. Oh you don't know about houses do you? Well, at Hogwarts there are four houses, it is the section of the castle where you are designated to sleep and spend your free time if you wish. The four houses are Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Gryffindor."

Mike noticed that he had said the last name with malice but didn't say anything, he was fascinated by the speech.

"The best house of them all is Slytherin, which I am proud to say that I am part of, so are Crabbe and Goyle here. We were sorted in our first year when we first arrived to Hogwarts, now we are in sixth year." Draco stated.

"How were you sorted?" Mike asked intrigued.

"We were sorted by something called the Sorting Hat. It's an enchanted hat used to place students in their most matching houses based on the traits described by the founders. They had died about a thousand years ago and the hat was left to sort students after they were gone. Each house has special attributes to which you will be judged and sorted correctly. That's about it, everything else you'll get just by being there." Draco said smirking. "I think we're here. C'mon, follow me. I'll show you where to go."

Draco got out of the carriage first with Mike right behind him, followed closely by Crabbe and Goyle. Stepping out they made their way through the rain and the bustling students who were rushing to get inside. Reaching the castle Mike was amazed at its magnificence; it was so large, and decorated. The walls were covered in paintings and tapestries and murals of all sorts. Standing beside Draco he entered a large hall with four long table extending down it, and floating near the ceiling were thousands of lit candles. The ceiling itself looked like the sky outside; Mike figured it to be enchanted.

Draco walked to the table on the farthest end of the hall and sat down, gesturing for Michael to do the same. Sitting he looked around and saw that many people were giving him curious looks. He just ignored them and looked around, taking in all of its features. Soon after a very strict looking woman came into the hall followed closely by very nervous looking ten and eleven year olds; Mike, personally didn't feel nervous at all, and he was also here for the first time. She walked over to the side of the large table at the front of the hall and pulled out a three-legged chair and a very worn looking hat.

Draco leaned in and whispered to Mike, "That's the Sorting Hat."

The woman started talking to all of the students, "You will now be sorted into your houses. As soon as I call your name came up to the stool and place the Sorting Hat on your head, as soon as your house is called out go sit at the proper table. Avis, Daniel..." But Mike didn't get to hear the end, Draco started talking to him again.

"The woman up there is Professor McGonagall. She teaches Transfiguration and is head of Gryffindor house, and she's a real bitch." Draco said glaring at McGonagall maliciously, he obviously didn't like her. Mike felt like he was missing something though.

When everyone was all sorted a long-bearded man stood up, he had been sitting in the exact center of the table, which Mike assumed was the staff table after looking at everyone closely. He started speaking and Mike listened intently, assuming that it was important...it was.

"Hello students and welcome back to another great school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." He greeted the hall joyously. "I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of this fine school and would like to welcome you all. And now begins The Start of Term Feast." Dumbledore then clapped his hands and food suddenly appeared on the table. Anything you could think of was there.

Mike, along with everyone else, ate until he thought he would burst. It was refreshing to taste real food. Him and Draco talked all throughout the meal, about anything they could think of. Draco genuinely liked Michael; which was a rare thing, usually he just acted like that because they were a powerful family or something of that sort. When finished, all the food disappeared, leaving the plates clean and the table clear. Then standing at the front of the hall again was Dumbledore.

"Now that we are all fed, I would like to point out to all students that the Forbidden Forest is strictly out of bounds. This warning and restriction is given to ensure your safety. Also I'd like to say that Ever-Beating Dodge Balls have been added to the list of things not allowed in the school. The entire list can be viewed in out caretaker Mr. Filch's office. Now please get some rest, for classes start tomorrow." Dumbledore finished as the students in the hall started to get up. "Oh wait I almost forgot. Please everyone sit back down. There is still another order of business to take care of."

Everyone, following Dumbledore's orders, sat down confused.

"Well now I almost forgot about you." Dumbledore said looking at Mike with his twinkling blue eyes, behind half-moon spectacles. "We still have one more sorting to handle before everyone goes off to bed. Michael would you come up here please."

Mike stood up, and walked slowly towards the front of the hall, he could feel everyone's eyes on him. He kept his eyes straight avoiding the stares of the kids in the hall. Coming up to the front he saw the woman take out the stool and place the hat atop it.

"Go on Michael put the hat on." Dumbledore said nodding towards Mike.

Mike did as he was told and placed the hat on. But when he expected to hear nothing, he could hear a voice in his head.

"Blimey, you're a bit old, aren't you?" The voice said, but no one in the hall laughed; he deducted that they couldn't hear what the hat was saying.

'_I've just turned seventeen.' _Mike thought to the hat.

"Well now. I don't think I've ever sorted one as old as you before, but the rules say I must sort all new students no matter their age. So let's see...yes, I see cunning...intelligence, you're very knowledgeable, you know that?" The hat asked him, but didn't give him time to respond, "Wit, quite a bit of that...but, oh you're shy...there's quite a bit of talent in here...and courage. Um...well, I'd have to say Gryffindor!" The hat had yelled his house across the hall, and the table farthest to the right started clapping.

Mike got up just as everyone else did, all walking out of the hall. As he entered the corridors he studied their features. They were quite amazing, but no one, besides the first years, seemed as perplexed as him. He followed some of the people he saw at his new house table, to the obvious destination of his house. Walking along he noticed that the first years were being directed as to were they needed to go; they didn't know where they were going either, not surprising though. As he reached a set of stairs everything was going fine, until he fell into one. All of the older students started laughing at him; they thought he was like a clumsy kid who forgot about the stair, as if he had always been at Hogwarts.

Peering down he saw that his foot had been pulled into a stair, well he couldn't say his foot because now he it was halfway up his shin. Reaching out he took a strong hold onto the stairs and yanked himself out of the trick step. That was an interesting experience, not one he wished to repeat.

Straightening out his shirt, Mike continued up the stairs until he noticed who was leading the first years; it was Hermione. He sped up a little and crept up beside her.

"I'm glad you know where you're going." He said.

Hermione jumped when she heard his voice and turned her head to look at him.

"Well I think I should, after being here for five years." Hermione replied smiling. "Don't worry though, I'll show you where to go. As for you first years, after this you're on your own." She called behind her.

"Why do you have to show them where to go? Why can't someone else do it?" Mike asked. He was expecting some new information to flood his ears. But somehow he knew that she had to do this, like it was her responsibility.

"Because I'm a prefect." But Mike looked at her puzzled, so she went on, " A prefect is an older student assigned to special duties in the school," Hermione continued, "they have to patrol the corridors, make sure students aren't breaking the rules, and...show the first years where the common room is on their first day. They are also told to do special things during bad times in the school. Like if a troll breaks in and all the students have to sleep in the Great Hall, the prefects have to watch over them while the teachers search the school."

"Oh. So a prefect is like a permanent hall monitor." Mike said in understanding.

"Yeah." Hermione then turned to him in surprise. "How do you know about hall monitors?" She thought only muggles knew about hall monitors, because she had to explain about them to Ron over the summer.

"Because I had one before. His name was Jerry Pikes, and he was a really nasty kid. Always asking you where you're going, and if you have a pass. He'd get right up in your face when he asked too, and he always had to smelliest breath. He still asks if you had a pass, even if you waved it right in his face. I did that once and he went to grab it, and when I moved he slammed his hand into the wall. Poor kid. He slammed it pretty hard." Mike said, "Why are you surprised I know about hall monitors?"

"Well, I thought only muggles knew about hall monitors." Hermione replied.

"Muggles?" Mike asked confused yet again.

"Muggles are non-magic folk. They are people who can't cast magic and are from muggle families. Squibs are people who can't cast magic and are from wizarding families. Muggle-borns are from muggle families and can cast magic. And purebloods are people from wizarding families that can cast magic. Everyone who is capable of magic is called a witch or wizard. Anything else is what I just explained." Hermione concluded.

"Oh. So which are you?"

"I'm a muggle-born. My parents are muggles."

"So then how'd you end up here? You seem like you would fit in perfectly in the muggle world. No one would suspect you of being a witch."

"I don't know really. That's a good question." Hermione said smiling. "Well here we are."

"Where? All I see is a picture."

"That's the point. The common room is hidden. Let's see..._Noggers_." Hermione said.

"That's right there dear." The Fat Lady replied. She was the woman in the portrait.

"Everyone the password is Noggers." Hermione announced to everyone standing around before going inside.

The common room wasn't at all what Mike had expected; he thought it would be a room with a bunch of tables and chairs, and maybe a bookshelf. It was a large room with a fireplace, cushy chairs and couches, and tables all over. It also had paintings and tapestries hanging on the walls; all in all it was very welcoming.

"You are allowed to spend your free time in the Gryffindor Common Room if you like. You are now all free to go to bed." Hermione finished; Mike had missed the first part.

Mike walked up to Hermione and said, "So where am I sleeping?"

"You didn't pay attention to anything I said did you?"

"I wanted to look around the room first." Mike smiled his 'charming yet innocent' smile at her.

"Just follow all the other guys and keep walking 'til you reach the door that's second from the top."

"Thanks Hermione."

"No problem. I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

Hermione walked upstairs to the girls' dorms.

"Night."

Mike walked upstairs to look at his room and grab his stuff. When he had thoroughly checked out his dorm, he went downstairs with his bag in hands. He checked watch and saw that it was eleven o' clock. He didn't really feel like sleeping now, so he picked out a couch in the corner to sit on and took out a book from his bag. He also took out his CD player and a CD to listen to, Limp Bizkit. Putting the headphones on he leaned into the soft couch and opened his book. He was so immersed in the music and the book that he didn't even notice that someone had come down.

Snap.

They had snapped the headphones against his ears. Mike jumped so high he was afraid that he had hit the ceiling.

"What're listening to?" A voice said.

It was Hermione.

"Um...Limp Bizkit." Mike replied breathing a little fast, she had scared him pretty bad.

"Oh. How does your CD player work here? I thought there was too much magic in the air for it to work." Hermione asked she was amazed that it worked.

"Oh. Dumbledore enchanted it for me, so that I could use it at school. He also made it so the batteries never died with a charm of his." Mike said looking at his CD player.

"That's cool. What are you reading?" Hermione asked peering at his book, it didn't look like a schoolbook.

"Lord of the Flies by William Golding. It's pretty good, I started it a couple of days ago." Mike said showing her the book; the cover had a picture of a boy covered in leaves and face paint on it. "What're you doing up anyway?"

"I couldn't sleep so I was going to come down here and relax for a little while." Hermione said rubbing her eyes.

"Are you tired? You seem it."

"A little, why?"

"I know a good way to get you to sleep." Mike said grinning at her.

"Oh yeah, what?" Hermione said, smiling.

"Come here and I'll show you." Mike replied as he went to sit on the floor in front of the couch.

"Okay..." Hermione replied a little nervous.

"Sit in front of me." Mike sat patting the floor in front of his spread legs.

"What're going to do?" Hermione said sitting down.

"Just relax." Mike replied.

He reached his hands up and placed them on her shoulders, just at the base of her neck. He pressed his thumbs into her back and squeezed with his fingers pulling up slightly. He could feel her muscles relax. After about ten minutes of that he moved his hands to her shoulders so that they were just on the outside of her arms. Mike then pushed her shoulder lightly towards her body and rotated her shoulders in a circular motion. After that he moved his hands just under arms against her body and squeezed in a slow rhythmic motion, pressing his thumbs just outside of her shoulder blades. Then he moved his hands to her sides and moved his thumbs in circles around the outsides of her spine. Finally, he laid his hands on her waist, squeezing with his fingers, and pressing his thumbs into the small impressions in her back. She had really strong, slim back muscles, but she was really tense...was.

"Wow. Where'd you learn to do that?" Hermione said when his hands were on her waist.

"Practice. A chiropractor showed me how to do it awhile ago." Mike said smiling when he saw her close her eyes. "I'm guessing you like it."

"Mm-hmm." Was all Hermione could say.

"See, I told you I could make you tired." Mike said grinning, alternating between rubbing and pressing his knuckles on the inside of her shoulder blades.

"Yeah, this works." Hermione said leaning back resting against him, with his hands still massaging her back.

They sat in silence for a while, until Mike saw that she had fallen asleep. Chuckling to himself, he slipped his hand under her knees and picked her up. With her head resting against his chest he carried her upstairs, the door was already creaked open slightly. She must've left it like that to make her sneak-in easier. He nudged it open with is foot, walked over to the bed and laid her down lightly on the only vacant bed, assuming it was hers. He looked her over; she was so cute in her spaghetti-strap tank top and pajama pants. He pulled the blanket off the end of the bed and laid it over her, pulling it up to her chin. He didn't bother with the comforter; he had just used a folded blanket off the end of the bed. He smiled to himself before creeping slowly across the room and out the open door, shutting it behind him. Then he proceeded to his dorm and fell asleep after putting his bag away, CD player and book sealed inside of it. He had gone down to the common room to get it after he tucked Hermione in.


	2. Day One

**Day One**

Mike woke the next morning instinctively at five o' clock. He didn't need an alarm clock to tell him when to get up, he did automatically at the same time everyday, no matter how much he had slept the previous night. Getting up he put on a pair of black slacks, a white wife beater, a white dress shirt, socks and some shoes. Then he grabbed his watch off the nightstand, it had been a present given to him by a friend of his as a going away gift. It was a nice watch; a Rolex covered in diamonds, it was all silver with his name inscribed in it. Mike loved his watch; he always put it on when he first woke up. It was a part of his daily routine; he unconsciously put it on.

He left the dorms and walked down to the common room, glancing around. He didn't stay long, before going to the Great Hall. Walking over he sat down at the Gryffindor table and grabbed a piece of toast. Munching on it he reached over and poured himself some milk; he didn't really like pumpkin juice. After taking a sip of his milk, he looked around the table, a couple seats away on the opposite side was Hermione. As soon as he caught her eye, she started blushing and looked away smiling, to continue her conversation with Harry. After about a minute of just sitting there two girls came up and sat on either side of him, instantly engaging him into conversation.

"Hi. I'm Parvati and this is Lavender." The girl on the left said.

"Oh, hello."

"Hi!" Lavender said.

"What's your name?" Parvati asked.

"Michael." Mike replied, smiling, slightly nervous.

"So where're you from?" Lavender asked.

"I'm originally from the U.S.," Mike said. "But I moved to England about six years ago."

"Really? What's the U.S. like?" Lavender asked interested.

"It's pretty big, and I've been to a bunch of different places. I liked the Rocky Mountains the most though; I went snowboarding there. That was fun." Mike said smiling, remembering the cool mountain air.

"You can snowboard?" Parvati asked.

"Yup, I've been able to for years." Mike replied.

"That's so cool. When winter comes will you teach me how?" Lavender asked.

"Sure."

"Really?"

"No problem." Mike said, but just then they're conversation was interrupted by schedules being handed out. He had no idea where the classes were or even **what** the classes were. He hated being confused; it sucked.

The bell rang shortly after he had finished examining his schedule, and Parvati and Lavender went to leave.

"Umâwait a second. Could one of you show me where" Mike squinted at the paper, "Transfiguration is?"

"Sure! We're going there right now. C'mon it's really easy." Parvati said wrapping her arm in his, "We'll get you there in no time."

"Thanks a lot. I don't have a clue where anything is," Mike said relieved, "or what anything is for that matter."

"Don't worry about anything, we'll teach you. I'll call it an even trade; I'll show you around and you teach me how to snowboard." Lavender said smiling.

"What do I get out of it?" Parvati whined, before smiling.

"I don't know. Think of something." Mike said smiling.

"I'll work on that." She replied.

After walking up stairs and down corridors and going around turns they finally reached the Transfiguration room. Upon approaching Mike recognized the teacher remembering what Draco said, she taught this class, this Professor McGonagall. Speaking of Draco, Mike apparently had class with him, seeing as he was sitting in the back row by himself; Crabbe and Goyle were squeezed together in the table beside his. Parvati and Lavender left him to sit in the third row. Mike decided to go and sit with Draco.

"Hi." Mike said sitting beside Draco.

Under any other circumstances, if a Gryffindor had sat next to Draco then he would've questioned them as to why they were sitting thereâor hex them. But this was different, for some unknown reason.

"Hello. Sleep good?" Draco asked politely.

"Yeah. You?"

"Yeah I guess, but I was dreading this class."

"Why's that? It isn't tough is it?" Mike asked worried.

"Are you kidding? This is one of the tougher classes in the whole school; McGonagall gives out so much homework. You're going to learn to hate this class." Draco said sneering at the teacher.

Mike just sighed and stared at the desk, he knew this wasn't going to be easy.

"Okay everyone we are going to go over a review to start off the year. So take out your wands and be ready to say a spell on my command. Mr. Weasley, you're first. Turn this iguana into a water goblet." McGonagall said.

Ron completed the spell successfully and Gryffindor was awarded ten points.

"Now let's seeâ Mr. Riddle. Switch this parrot and this dog." McGonagall said.

Mike knew the spell and exactly how it went, but it never turned out rightâ just like now. He ended up turning the parrot into a stuffed animal and blowing it up and the dog shrunk. The entire class laughed at him and McGonagall shook her head in disappointment; by this time Mike was really red in the face.

The rest of the class went like that, anytime he was called on to perform a spell it ended up terribly bad; but he got all the information questions right. Hermione on the other hand performed all the spells right and Draco did as well, in fact pretty much everyone else did well, except for one kid named Neville Longbottom, but everyone else didn't find it that unusual.

After the class ended Mike proceeded to Divination, another class that he had no idea where it was. He was predicting a likely pattern of this sort; not a pattern he wished to have. Luckily Lavender offered to show him where it was.

They walked a long distance to a tower in the northern part of he castle. They had to climb up a staircase and go through a trapdoor to get into the classroom. It was the oddest location for a classroom that Mike had ever seen. The classroom itself was even odder, it was stuffy and hot and all the windows were closed, with a roaring fire, and it seemed very gloomy; definitely not the optimal place to be predicting the future. Yes, Mike **did** know what Divination was.

He sat down at a table with Parvati and Lavender, waiting for class to start.

The teacher came looming out of the shadows, covered in bangles and necklaces that were evidently pulling her down, and glasses that made her eyes monstrously huge. She spoke to the class in and airy sort of 'I-know-more-than-you-do-' voice.

"Well class, welcome to another year of Divination, the class that teaches you to see into the future. As you all must know, yet one of you don't, I am Professor Trelawney." Professor Trelawney announced airily.

"Well of course he doesn't know who you are, you old bat, he's new." Ron whispered behind Mike.

Mike had to stifle a laugh; he could already tell this was going to be an interesting class indeed.

Professor Trelawney chose to ignore what Ron had said and continued; "Now please would everyone take out your copies of _The Mysteries of the Future_ and turn to page six please."

Mike took out his book and started to read what was written.

"As you can see, the book starts off on crystal gazing. I chose to go along with this as a proper review to start off the year."

"Actually, I can't see anything." Mike said.

"Why's that?" Trelawney asked softly, but obviously annoyed.

"Because this room's so stuffy that it's making me dizzy. Not the ideal place for Divination I might add." Mike said smiling.

"Of course it is; my room is built specifically for divining the future. It is designed so from the pages of many books."

"What is it based on? The chamber of the Oracle of Delphi?" He said sarcastically, "She was influenced by the vapors of ethane and other chemicals to alter her state of mind; your room has none of that. If it did, it is most likely that the students' voices would have changed; that's why a lot of people thought the Oracle was prophesizing, the ethane and chemicals changed her voice, they interpreted it as the voice of the gods speaking trough her. In fact it was just distorted vocalization." Mike explained.

Ron, Harry, and various other students looked flabbergasted at his statement. No one had ever spoken to Trelawney like that, save Hermione back in their third year.

"And how do you know all that?" Trelawney questioned.

"Because I've been to the Chamber of the Oracle, quite fascinating really. I even got to see the backroom with the fault where the vapors were being released. When I came out I was a little dizzy and disoriented, and my voice was deeper. The researchers said that was because of the chemicals." Mike responded innocently.

Trelawney went from agitated to fascinated in three seconds flat, she was obviously impressed that he had been to the Oracle's chamber.

"What was it like there? Did you have any visions?" She asked stepping closer.

"No, I didn't have any visions, and it was really foggy. But the way your classroom is setup no one will ever have a vision, it's too stuffy and distracting." Mike replied.

"What do you mean 'stuffy and distracting'?" Trelawney inquired.

"Having all the windows shut and a roaring fire makes it to hot to be comfortable, and the incense burning makes people dizzy and kind ofâout of it. Last, having it dark is straining everyone's vision so that they don't see things correctly, let alone interpret anything right, such as the smoke in the crystal ball." Mike explained, he was hot and stuffy and dizzy, and he wanted it to end. But he was right after all; these were the worst conditions for Divination.

He waited for her to do something or say anything, but she didn't, so he got up and opened all the windows. After having finished that, he put out all the incense and took down all the drapes to let in sunlight.

"That's better." He said sitting back down. "Now anyone with an Inner Eye will actually be able to use it, if not you might as well hand everyone the mystical blind man's cane."

The class laughed, he wasn't sure whether it was at him, or the stunned Professor.

The rest of the class period went by without a hitch, Trelawney did know what she was doing but she stretched it a little too much, making it unbelievable.

After the bell had rung, the students all leaped to their feet and sped out of the classroom. Heading towards lunch, it seemed that a long session of crystal gazing had left them all hungry, Michael included.

As he sat down, Mike heard Ron talking about Divinationâand him.

"Mike man, no one has ever talked to Trelawney like that, except maybe Hermione but that was ages and ages ago." Ron said loudly though mouthfuls of food.

"Your nuts, you know that, nuts. I'm surprised she didn't predict your death, it would be a break from her predicting mine." Harry added gulping down pumpkin juice.

"Why what did he do?" Hermione asked sitting down across from Mike, avoiding his eyesâstill.

"He told her off about the stuffiness of her room, and junk. It was cool, made everyone laugh." Ron said now munching on ham.

"I think I'm going to go sit outside for a bit. I'll see ya'll later." Mike said getting up and walking outside, heading towards the greenhouses.

He walked inside greenhouse five, heading slowly down the aisles, gazeing at all the plants. There were so many flowers and trees andâgnomes? Little buggers. He stayed in there for about ten minutes staring at all the plants before going into the middle aisle. He extended his arm, reaching out for one of the flowers.

"I wouldn't touch that." A voice said from behind him, startling him.

"Why not?" He asked the new spectator, "Hi Hermione."

"Because it'll spit acid on you." She said prodding it with a stick, the flower spit acid on it and it burned and melted away.

"Odd how something so beautiful can be so dangerous." Mike said staring intently at it, "Did you sleep good?"

"Yeah, great actually." She said blushing lightly.

Mike then started walking along towards the front of the room, Hermione right beside him. He checked around the table for any plants and then pulled himself up onto it.

"Have a seat." He said patting a section of table beside himself.

Hermione pulled herself next to him.

"Why'd you come out here? We don't have Herbology 'til Wednesday." She asked facing him.

"I like it out here. It's peaceful, and people are less likely to find meâthat is unless they're following me." He said smirking at her. "You wouldn't happen to be following me, would you?"

"Maybe" She retorted. "if I hadn't you'd be flower acid.

He didn't say anything for a little. Then asked, "So you've always gone here?"

"Yeah, it's pretty nice." She said breathing deeply, taking in the smells of all the plants, "You're right, it is peaceful out here. How about you, where are you from?"

"Me? I was originally from the U.S., but moved to England a few years ago." He said lightly.

"Where'd you go to school before now?"

"Well I've been to a bunch of different schools. I went to an English school before, then Beauxbatons, then Durmstrang for a little bit. Since then I've been home schooled. How longs that? "Six yearsâyup. That's about right." He said smiling. "Well, I wouldn't really call it home schooled per se, I was taught while I was traveling."

"Wait, so you've been to the Tri-Wizard schools?"

"Yeah, but I didn't ever stay that longâthree weeks maybe."

"What're the schools like?"

"Well, from what I can remember, Durmstrang was a dark, dank, and icy place, and Beauxbatons was more airy and light. Of all the schools I've been to, I like Hogwarts the best. There are a lot of nice people here, and one I love to talk to." He said looking at her through the corner of his eye.

Hermione blushed a deep red, and started fiddling with a string on her sweater.

"So how is it that you came to Hogwarts?" She asked turning to him, discarding the string.

"Dumbledore came to me in January and asked if I wanted to come here. Seeing as I'd been traveling for years, I thought it'd be a nice change and said yes. He spent months organizing it with the Ministry and -voila! - here I am." Mike said after watching her fiddle with her sweater.

Ring!

The bell sounded across the grounds signaling the start of classes.

"Oh man, I'm late!" Hermione said frantically hopping off the desk, and dashing for the door. But before she had even gone two steps Mike had grabbed her arm and pulled her back, hopping off the desk. "What're you doing?"

"Relax." He said slowly walking out, Hermione's arm still grasped in his hand.

"Relax? I'm already late and missing class, and I'm probably going to get detention." She said growing red in the face.

"It'll be fine as long as you breathe." He said jokingly.

She just glared at him as they walked along; he had released her arm.

After ten minutes of walking they came up to the classroom, but to Hermione's surprise there was a sign on the door that read: CLASS HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

"I can't believe this" Hermione said sighing deeply.

"I told you it'd be fine." Mike said grinning.

"Shut up." Hermione snapped giving him the evil eye, and grinning.

"Well now you have a whole class period of free time what're you going to do with it?"

"Wait, don't you have class? You said you didn't take Ancient Runes and that was what got cancelled so" Hermione asked curiously.

"Nope, I didn't have class to begin with. This is a free period for me." He said bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Let's go for a walk, unless you have anything else to do. I don't want to interrupt your plans or anything." He added sheepishly, he didn't want to take up her time if she had better things to do.

"Well, as of now, I don't have anything to do soâsure a walk sounds nice." She said starting down the hall.

"Great!" He started glancing around for signs of anything familiar; he found nothing. "Lead the way seeing as I have absolutely no idea where I am."

"Okay." Hermione said laughing.

After walking around for the better part of the period, they finally ended up in the common room. They spent the rest of their time on large pouf chairs talking, laughing, and playing wizard's chess. Mike knew how to play chess, but the pieced bashing each other was still a little surprising; Hermione had laughed at him when her bishop first took one of his knights. He ended up winning though, after a long and vigorous match that is.

"Checkmate." Mike said moving his queen to finish the game.

"I didn't even see that coming." Hermione said examining the board.

"Then my plan worked! Insert maniacal laugh here." Mike said jokingly picking up Ron's chess set, Hermione had 'borrowed' it and used her own set. "So, what class do you have next?"

"UmâArithmancy." She said putting her pieces away, shoving a protesting pawn in the box.

"Arithmancy? So do I." He said laughing at the pawn, "I don't think he wants to get put away yet."

"Yeah wellâStupefy!" She yelled getting frustrated with the pawn; it froze instantly.

"Will you show me where the class is?" He asked quietly.

"Of course, just let me get my books." She said dashing upstairs.

Mike went upstairs to put Ron's chess set away and grab his books. Coming back down he saw that Hermione was already there waiting.

"Sorry, I couldn't find where Ron kept his set so I ended up putting it on his nightstand."

"It's okay, I know he isn't very organized." Hermione said sarcastically, it had taken her ten minutes to find the chess set in the first place.

They walked down to the Arithmancy room, catching up with some of Hermione's friends. She had introduced them to Mike and vice versa, all getting along pretty well. The class itself went along well; apparently Mike was good at Arithmancy for the most part, except for the fact that he contradicted the teacher a lot. Some of the things he knew Professor Vector didn't and the professor insisted on arguing with him about it. All in all though everything went along fine.

"So I see that you have a tendency to argue with teachers." Hermione said as they stepped into the hall grinning.

"No, it's just that he didn't know about the" Mike to started to exclaim but Hermione cut him off.

"It's alright, I was joking." She said laughing lightly at his frantic-ness, nudging him in the arm.

"Oh" He started blushing profusely.

His face maintained its red color all the way to the next class. Then later at dinner Hermione ended up having to explain to Ron about record players, don't ask how it ended up like that, and Mike had left early to go for a walk. He hadn't really had a chance to see the grounds yet and he wanted a closer look at the lake.

Getting up he said, "I'll be outside in the unlikely case that someone desperately needs to talk to me." Everyone nodded as he left.

He walked across the grounds taking in all of its details; it was magnificent in its own way. The forest, the lake, the mountains, a random hut on the groundsâa random hut? Mike walked slowly towards it and recognized the ten-foot tall man from the train station. He was only about twenty feet away and turned to leave when the man called out to him.

"Hallo there!" The man said waving him over, seeing as Mike was the only one around.

Stepping up to the man he said, "Hello."

"An' who migh' you be?" The man asked joyously.

"Michael Riddle and who are you?" Mike said his voice sounding smaller than he intended.

"I'm Rubeus Hagrid gamekeeper, keeper of keys and grounds, and the Care o' Magical Creatures teacher." He said sticking out a giant hand for him to shake; it was about the size of a large frying pan. Mike shook his hand lightly and asked what he was doing.

"Well I was 'bout to go an' weed out the vegetable garden o'er here by the horse paddock. Would you like to help me?" He asked his beady black eyes shining.

"Sure. I need something to do anyways." Mike replied following towards the garden. It consisted of some of largest vegetables he had ever seen.

The pumpkins looked freshly grown but were the size of a boulder with room to spare, as were the heads of lettuce and cabbage. There were also large stalk sticking out of the ground that were about the size of small trees, they looked like carrot stalks. They were just the few things spread amongst the vast garden; it truly was marvelous.

"So here's a shovel an' a rake. I'll show you where to start." Hagrid said handing him a shovel, a rake, and a pair of gloves.

"You grow all this by yourself?" Mike asked wide-eyed.

"Yup, been workin' at it all summer." Hagrid replied proudly, beaming at his garden.

"Mind if I throw my cloak on the fence?" Mike asked removing his cloak and sweater.

"Go righ' ahead." Hagrid said digging into a weed. "You can start in tha' row o'er there." He nodded towards the adjacent row.

"Okay." Mike said walking over to the row of potatoes and digging into a weed, careful not to hit a potato root.

They talked and worked all throughout the evening. Hagrid and Mike shooting questions back and forth, Mike had instantly become friends with the threatening looking teacher. They had gotten most of the garden done when it became too dark to work. Even the light from the lantern wasn't very effective.

"Well, thank you for yer help. I appreciate it." Hagrid said reaching over and taking his shovel.

"No problem, I needed something to do anyway. It was nice to talk to you Rubeus." Mike said.

"Oh call me Hagrid. Ev'rybody else does." He said smiling through his tangles of beard.

"It was nice talking to you Hagrid. I better get back to the castle before I get in trouble."

"I'll walk yeh just in case someone tries to give you any trouble, I'll jus' tell 'em yeh were helpin' me." Hagrid said walking along beside him.

They walked up to the castle all the while talking. They were chatting about dragons and other dangerous animals when they entered the Great Hall and a really nasty looked man came up to them. He had a weird aura about him; it was mean but not quite evil, despite the fact that he seemed rather slimy.

"What are you doing out of bed this late?" The man asked eyeing Mike suspiciously.

"Hello Professor Snape. Mike 'ere was helpin' me weed my garden, real nice o' him to lend a hand." Hagrid said clapping a hand on Mike's shoulder.

"Yeah" Mike said becoming immediately distracted by shoelace.

"Well, isn't that very nice of you. Such a good Samaritan." Snape said sarcastically, "Now off to bed before you get in any kind of trouble. We wouldn't want the new student getting a tarnish on his clean record on the first day, now would we?"

"C'mon there Mike I'll take yeh to yer common room." Hagrid said stepping forward.

"I'd do it myself but I have more important things to do than usher around new little students." Snape said maliciously.

"I'm not little." Mike said quietly.

"What was that?" Snape snapped narrowing his eyes.

"I said I'm not little. There isn't really a need to be so rude to someone you don't even know. Respect has to be given to be gained." Mike said walking away before Snape could answer.

As soon as they were out of earshot Hagrid spoke up, "He's goin' to seek you out now, yeh know tha'? It wasn' very smart to snap at Professor Snape like tha'."

"What's he going to do? Intentionally fail me? That's the least of my worries." Mike said sulking, but he changed the subject, "So, I didn't get to ask you. Have you ever had a dragon?"

Hagrid's eyes lit up at the thought of Norbert, "Yup, 'bout five years ago. He was beautiful. You like dragons, do yeh?"

"Yeah, they're one of my favorite animals. They're so puzzling and mysterious, you can't help but love them." Mike said glowing; he really did like dragons.

"Well 'ere we are." Hagrid said coming up the portrait hole, turning back to Mike he said, "You can come an' visit me in me hut any time."

"Thanks. Night Hagrid." Mike replied saying the password and stepping inside.

"Night." Hagrid said starting off.

Mike walked over to the fire and plopped down on the couch that was situated in front of it. His hands were a little sore but other than that he was okay. Looking around he found his bag on a chair across the room; he left that thing everywhere. It's not like anyone could open it, the paranoid Mad-eye Moody had put locking, anti-tearing, and protection charms on every inch of it; it was sealed tighter than Gringotts.

Reaching down he pulled out his ever-handy CD player and selected a CD to play. Going back to his original couch he put the headphones on and turned on the CD player, then he grabbed a book out of his bag and started reading. He considered it for a moment and decided that this would probably become a routine of his, it's not like it was that bad of one. After about an hour of reading he headed up to the common room to go to sleep. He made it halfway up the stairs and tripped, spilling his stuff all over. Glancing down he tried to find what he had tripped over; ironically it was a book. Picking it up he looked for a name inside; it was Neville Longbottom's. He put it back down; Neville would find it there when he went down stairs the next morning.

Changing into sweatpants, Mike snuck into bed, and fell asleep, dreaming about dragons.


End file.
